Kelley’s Market Trends: Residential Market Distribution

This week’s graph shows the distribution of current listings and the last 12 months of sales by price range

By Jim Kelley // Jan 31, 2018

In 2017 the overall median price of sold residential properties in Flathead County was $275,000. This means that half the sales are lower and half are higher than that median price.

This week’s graph shows the distribution of current listings and the last 12 months of sales by price range. Of the 1,872 sales in the last 12 months, 18 percent sold in the price range of between $100,000 and $200,000, compared to 27 percent in 2016. At this time there are 771 residential listings and only 5 percentare priced in that $100,000 to $200,000 range, compared to 6 percent at this time a year ago. With 331 sales in this price range and a current inventory of 35 listing, this means that there is currently 39 days of inventory, making this price range a seller’s market.

As we move up into the $1 million to $2 million range, we find that this price range only accounts for 2 percent of the sales, but 14 percent of the current listings are in this price range. With only 34 sales in the last year and 109 current listings, this tells us that there is currently around 38 months of inventory of homes in the $1 million to $2 million dollar range. This segment of the market is very much a buyer’s market.

As you can see in the graph, the existing housing inventory goes from one month for home priced $100,000 to $200,000 andup to 69 months for home priced over $2,000,000. Currently, there are 63 $2,000,000 plus homes on the market, but there were only 11 sales in the last year.

On a broader scale, there is currently around 2.7 months of inventory for homes priced under $400,000, making this price range a seller’s market. For homes priced over $500,000, there is currently 13.2 months of inventory, putting these higher priced homes in a buyer’s market.

The market is generally quite smart and pricing is key to getting homes sold. This is especially true in the higher price ranges because there are a lot of sellers competing for a relative few number of buyers.